Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Howard Tullman leaves arts stamp on 1871

Howard Tullman leaves arts stamp on 1871

May 27, 2014

Howard Tullman decorates 1871 with his own collection. Among the pieces is "Fortis” by Tim Okamura.

No surprise Howard Tullman is putting his stamp on 1871, the big office space at the Merchandise Mart used by techie entrepreneurs.

Along with making it a hub for new business, Mr. Tullman has brightened up the place with original pieces from his personal collection of contemporary artwork.

Some of them were moved from Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy, which he co-founded, and others are new or from his private loft space.

Some recently purchased artwork fits well with the new FEMtech initiative, Mr. Tullman told me. He was referring to 1871's focus on women in the tech industry. There's a new 80-foot mural in the hallway by Chicago artist Jeff Zimmermann. Mr. Tullman talks about that in his blog.

And there are some pieces created by teens via nonprofit After School Matters that are hanging and for sale. The painted skateboards and other artwork were created as part of an internship program.

I spent some time at 1871 last week and talked to a few entrepreneurs there about the artwork. Most were surprised to hear it came from Mr. Tullman's personal collection.

“It warms up the space,” said Jill Salzman, founder of Founding Moms, a company that helps moms get businesses off the ground.

Paul Caswell, founder and CEO of Weave the People, an online team-building tool, said, “In tech, we're always in our heads. We're all thinkers. But there's an artistic side, too, and that was missing."

And Brian Busch, founder of Brewed in Chicago, an online gathering place for the craft-beer community, said, simply, “Creativity is at the core of what we do, so having art cover the white walls makes sense.”